Radio and Television

Why cannot we do without radio and television?

Both radio and TV play an important role in our life as well as newspapers. They give the full coverage of the latest events, comment on the most important developments, political and domestic affairs. They acquaint us with different views and opinions. Thus, they contribute to the development of the information network. That's why in the recent years there has been the increase in the amount of time spent watching TV. Though it depends on the season, the age of the viewers and social class. For example, TV viewing is less popular in summer than in winter. It is more popular with old people than with other age groups. Professional and managerial classes watch less than the unskilled. Besides, women watch more than men.

What TV / radio programmes do you like / dislike?

As for the TV and radio, I like documentaries (a film or television programme that deals with real people and events), profile programmes (a short article or programme about someone), sitcoms (a television or radio series about a particular group of characters who deal with situations in a humorous way), and sportcasts (a radio or television programme about sport). I dislike chat shows (a television or radio programme in which famous people talk about themselves and their work), fly-on-the-wall shows (a fly-on-the-wall television programme or film shows real people doing what they normally do every day), soap operas (a television or radio series about the imaginary lives of a group of people. A soap opera is often simply called a soap), talk shows and phone-ins (a radio or television programme that people phone with their questions or comments).

What qualities do you look for in a TV programme?

Informativity, information wealth (содержательность), easy to watch and understand coherence, sometimes fun, certainty in the heard information, inspiration, use.

What genres dominate prime-time viewing?

According to a new report from Nielsen, dramas are the dominant primetime genre on television in the US. The report looked at five different genres from the time slot and found that dramas accounted for 44 percent of viewership, followed by sports at 22 percent and reality shows at 16 percent. Drama's share of the viewers gets even bigger when it comes to those who save shows to watch later: 58 percent of timeshifted viewing is for dramas, compared to 16 percent for sitcoms and 14 percent for reality TV. Unsurprisingly, these numbers also mean that dramas receive the biggest chunk of advertising money, which in 2011 added up to a cool $4.9 billion (out of a total of $14 billion). However, sports aren't too far behind with $4.1 billion, a relatively large number considering the genre gets half the number of viewers. The only place that drama didn't come out on top in the report was in terms of product placement — reality TV took top spot there, with 4,664 instances of product placement accounting for 58 percent of the primetime slot. In spite of this, the most memorable placements actually took place on sitcoms — more people remembered the time that Sheldon from The Big Bang Theory used Purell than any other product featured last year.

Why are soap operas so popular?

Watching soap operas is one of favorite pastimes for a considerable number of people. Why? What kind of people usually watches them? I will try to find out. It is no secret that the greatest fans of soaps are women, especially of elderly age. I think, it is conditioned by the fact that women’s psychology differs greatly from the one men have. They are much more emotional, hearty, empathetic and like to experience many different emotions. Without them they just can’t enjoy life to full extent and can even lose the will to live.

When being young and having a lot of work to do and a lot of things to take care about, women rarely resort to watching soaps, as they already have saturated and interesting life. Other situation is when they don’t live the life they want – their work doesn’t bring them pleasure and too many things disappoint them. Then, watching soaps is a way of escaping the gloomy reality and making life more interesting.

For elderly people, who have grown-up children and have already retired, soap operas become one of the few things that let them feel the variety of emotions they did when being young. Thus, it reminds them of how interesting and exciting life can be and distracts them from their own, often lonely, reality. On balance, I think that soap operas are popular for the fact that they let people experience many different emotions and make their life much more interesting. But I think that living interesting and happy life is the best way, in which people should organize their life and to which they should strive. Of course, it is easier to watch TV instead of…

What is your attitude to TV commercials?

A lot of chanels show us to many TV commercials. Every 10 or 15 minutes the programms interrupted by a block of commercials and that bothers to enjoy our favourite TV programm or film. As for me it is the reason why I don’t like to watch TV.

Does television have negative influence on children, on family life?

Television has the potential to generate both positive and negative effects, and many studies have looked at the impact of television on society, particularly on children and adolescents. An individual child’s developmental level is a critical factor in determining whether the medium will have positive or negative effects. Not all television programs are bad, but data showing the negative effects of exposure to violence, inappropriate sexuality and offensive language are convincing. Television viewing frequently limits children’s time for vital activities such as playing, reading, learning to talk, spending time with peers and family, storytelling, participating in regular exercise, and developing other necessary physical, mental and social skills. In addition to the amount of time spent in front of the television, other factors that influence the medium’s effect on children include the child’s developmental level, individual susceptibility and whether children watch television alone or with their parents. It is obvious that TV is a form of parallel interaction in which each family member interacts with the TV more than they interact with each other when the TV is on. This is in sharp contrast to things like games and meals where communication happens interactively. Studies have shown that when the TV is on, children and fathers are oriented towards each other less of the time, they talk less and have fewer positive facial expressions than when the TV is turned off. During commercials, interaction between family members is increased but then goes back once again to lower levels when the program resumes. With the TV on for an average of seven hours a day in American homes, interactive communication where family members are truly present with each other is substantially reduced.

What advantages, if any, does television have over radio?

Television sets itself apart from other media with its ability to offer sight, sound, and motion to generate emotional responses from the viewer. The qualities of television allow advertisers to create a long lasting and memorable brand and corporate image. Television is considered the most engaging medium over other major media. The ability to show products in action can easily introduce new products to consumers. Television has built a reputation of prestige and credibility. Thus, enhancing the image of advertisers who use television. Person-to-person communication is achieved through the combination of both the spoken word and unspoken elements such as body language and gestures. Television has both visual and sound capabilities which allowing it to come closer than any other medium to offer ideal communication. Television’s ability to touch people’s senses simultaneously creates a synergistic effect that cannot be duplicated by only stimulating an individual sense.

Why do people prefer watching television to going to the cinema?

Nowadays, television viewing is by far the most popular activity in most countries in Europe and America, where there are television sets in practically every home and it is probably that the average number of viewing time is at least fifteen hours a week. Some film makers supposed that people would stop going to see films at the cinema when a variety of TV programs on several channels were brought to people’s homes. Although that did not happen, the number of people who go to the cinema has gone down very much. But a lot of people still prefer to see films in color at the cinema rather than on a small TV screen. The reason is that there’s no point in going to the cinema any more. Why do so if you have an ability to download a movie in a high quality, make yourself some pop-corn and make yourself comfortable at home? Most people have either home theaters or high resolution monitors. You can stop the movie whenever you want, you can lie comfortably in your bed or on your couch. You don’t have to spend money on the ticket and way there and and back. And it saves you a lot of time.